Walking down Main Street, tempted by the aroma of fresh baking bread, for the sake of my waist, I must fight the enticement to walk through the door of Winkler Bakery. Often, I fail to be successful and must drop in for my favorite mouth watering slab of sugar cake or ginger cookies. Trust me, if you ever taste either you will not be able to resist on your next visit. In fact, you may feel the need to visit simply for another taste.You may be able to purchase similar in other places, but none compare to the real concoctions from Winkler's wood oven.
Thomas Butner was chosen as the new town baker in 1799. Gottlob Krause was hired by Brother Butner to build a structure with bakery below and living quarters for his family on the second floor. Unfortunately for the Church, Brother Baker preferred farming and shoemaking above baking. Church leaders brought Swiss-born Christian Winkler from Pennsylvania. Winkler purchased the dwelling and bakery from Brother Butner in 1807.
Generations of the Winkler family operated the bakery until 1926. The first Winkler family raised six children in their home/bakery. As Brother Winkler’s health failed from asthma his sons operated the bakery. Winkler’s second son, William, took over the business in 1827.
The domed masonry oven is typical of what you would have seen in early Salem. The oven is still heated with split white oak as it has been for over 200 years. Using no modern machinery and all natural ingredients, the period costumed bakers fire the oven, mix dough in manger-like troughs with long wooden paddles as they explain each step to salivating visitors.
Sugar Cake and Cookies
The finished products are for sale from bonneted Sisters wearing long cotton dresses and neat white aprons or men in trousers held by suspenders as they would have been in the 1800’s. Don’t miss the Moravian Sugar Cake, it is to die for! A dense, gooey coffee cake rich with brown sugar, butter and cinnamon is like nothing you have ever tasted in your life. Of course, that is, unless you grew up in our Salem along with me. Cookies, thin cutouts, often laced with ginger in shapes of flowers, stars, leaves, crescent moons, Thanksgiving turkeys, Christmas trees and more. There are oatmeal raisin cookies, cinnamon raisin bars, banana nut bread along with other tempting treats for your taste buds. Paper thin cookies feature ginger, lemon, cranberry-orange, apple, maple, chocolate and other flavors.
Watch this informative video of hisoric interpretations of baking at our Winkler Baker:
Are you having an attack and can’t get to our Salem? Some of their baked goods are available online. In fact, if you click on the image at the right you can buy cookies NOW!
My personal pizza evolution: As a child and young person didn't care for it at all, learned to tolerate it, began to like it, son went to NC State, we shared a Mellow Mushroom House Pizza and I was hooked. It had to have been the best pizza on God's Earth. Mellow Mushroom came to our Salem, I moved nearby - Heaven on Earth! You haven't experienced a pizza if you have failed to experience a Mellow Mushroom pizza. No other pizza even comes close. I try my best to not have more that one a week. It is a difficult task. Even better with one of their awesome salads. The freshest ingredinats and the best crust you will ever put in your mouth.
It's difficult to choose your favorite downtown restaurant however, if I had a list Skippy's Hot Dogs would grace the top of that list. Hot Dogs, you say, have I lost my mind with all of the marvelous choices downtown. All that says is that you haven't been to Skippy's. If you had, you would clearly understand. A Skippy's Hot Dog begins where no other Dog has begun before as Mike freshly bakes soft pretzel rolls. I am not talking about any old pretzel roll, but a secrete family recipe from Pennsylvania. Then the roll is steamed for softness, graciously buttered and placed on the grill for toasting. Did I say it is buttered? Yum. Now comes the thick succulent Nathan's all-beef frank. No, it does not come out of boiling water onto the bun. No way, Mike carefully slices, butterflying the frank and places it on the grill. From there its your desire including as available toppings: yellow mustard, spicy mustard, ketchup, house-made chili, house-made slaw, sauerkraut, shredded cheddar, sweet relish, banana peppers, chopped onions, grilled onions, tomato, pickle. Let your imagination run wild!
Don't have an imagination? Pick from the stock choices:
All the Way Dog- Mustard, chili, slaw, chopped onions
Reuben Dog - Spicy mustard, kraut, Swiss Cheese
Chicago Dog- Mustard, onion, sweet relish, dill pickle, tomato, banana peppers, celery salt
Chili Cheese Dog- Doesn't need explaining. Not cool? Fine, have a veggie Dog - NOT THE SAME!
I will be honest, I would never visit Skippy's and have anything other than one of Mike's fabulous Hot Dogs. However, I can understand that your desires of fine cuisine might not be as refined as mine. Mike does have other items on his menu, which I choose to ignore and place a link here only for the gastronomically disadvantaged.
Skippy's owner Mike Rothman became inspired to make soft pretzels after he moved to North Carolina in 1994. While widely available and very popular in his home state of Pennsylvania, authentic pretzels could not be found in the Winston-Salem area. Mike experimented with several recipes and took lots of tasting trips around Pennsylvania before finding just the right recipe.
The recipe that was finally chosen was from a Pennsylvania family that has been making soft pretzels for several generations and Mike was very lucky that they chose to share their secrets with him. Mike's pretzel guru was Glenn Smith, and he came to North Carolina in June of 1997 to train Mike in the art of pretzel making. The Carolina Dutch Pretzel Company was born, and Mike left his computer career to follow a dream.
Mike sold the pretzels through vending at local events and festivals, as well as wholesaling them to several schools and businesses in the Mocksville and Winston-Salem area. After a few years, Mike starting thinking about centralizing his operation into a retail outlet. He had sold hot dogs in pretzel buns as part of his vending and they were a huge hit. He decided to open a sandwich shop featuring his soft pretzel rolls.
Mike bought New York Bagels and Deli on Hanes Mall Boulevard in Winston-Salem in June 2001. He operated the restaurant as a bagel shop for several months while learning the ropes and refining his concept. The restaurant officially became Skippy's in April 2002, serving hot dogs and sandwiches on pretzel rolls. The hot dogs and hand cut french fries were even more popular than Mike expected, and are what Skippy's is known for today.
Check out this article in the July 14, 2010 Winston-Salem Journal:
Are you having an attack and can’t get to our Salem? Some of their baked goods are available online. In fact, if you click on the image at the right you can buy cookies NOW!
